Dynamics of self-regulation: How (un)accomplished goal actions affect motivation.

Abstract

Two factors increase the motivation to adhere to a goal: goal commitment and lack of goal progress. When people ask about commitment, focusing on what they have accomplished (to date) signals to them high commitment and increases motivation. Conversely, when commitment is certain and people ask about goal progress, focusing on what they have yet to accomplish (to go) signals to them lack of progress and increases motivation. Accordingly, 4 studies show that emphasizing to-date information increases goal adherence when commitment is uncertain--that is, when participants study for a relatively unimportant exam, consume luxuries, fulfill a desire, and make first-time contributions to a charity. Conversely, emphasizing to-go information increases goal adherence when commitment is certain--that is, when participants study for an important exam, consume necessities, fulfill a need, and make repeated contributions to a charity.

Pursuing goals with others: Group identification and motivation resulting from things done versus things left undone.

“…That the last contrast was not statistically reliable may have been because we included only regular donors to Compassion at large, whose a priori group identification was relatively high, which limited our ability to effectively induce low identification with the victims. Indeed, previous research categorizes regular donors as having high commitment to a charity goal (Koo & Fishbach, 2008).…”

The Small-Area Hypothesis: Effects of Progress Monitoring on Goal Adherence

“…However, other factors may also contribute to the small-area effect. In particular, research on the dynamics of self-regulation attests that people obtain different information from completed versus remaining actions (Fishbach, Zhang, and Koo 2009;Koo and Fishbach 2008). Completed actions serve as a signal of personal commitment and increase motivation for those who are not yet committed to their goals, whereas remaining actions signal a need to progress and increase motivation for those who are already committed to their goals.…”

“…4). This control condition enabled us to maintain progress information while eliminating the emphasis on completed or remaining actions (see Koo and Fishbach 2010).…”

“…According to this hypothesis, how people monitor their progress toward goal completion influences their motivation. Specifically, we distinguish between framing progress in terms of completed actions versus remaining actions to complete the goal (Koo and Fishbach 2008). We propose that at the beginning of goal pursuit, a focus on accumulated progress (e.g., 20% completed) is more motivating than a focus on remaining progress (e.g., 80% remaining).…”

Goal Reversion in Consumer Choice

“…The choice stimuli for this study were identical to study 1 except that after the choice process was complete, participants indicated on 7-point scales how important eating healthy food and eating tasty food were to them personally (1 p not at all important; 7 p extremely important). Since consumers who are chronically conflicted tend to report the conflicting goals as equally important (see Koo and Fishbach 2008, study 1), we use differences in self-reported goal importance as a proxy for chronic conflict between the two competing goals in this study.…”